Tag Archives: Ministry of Tourism

MOT’s ‘Smart India Hackathon 2017’ from April 1-2

The Ministry of Tourism will host the Grand Finale of “Smart India Hackathon” on April 1-2, 2017, in Kochi, Kerala, featuring 53 teams comprising of 230 students from technology institution/engineering colleges across the country. The Smart India Hackathon is being held across 26 cities in the country including Kochi with the involvement and support of 29 government departments. This Hackathon is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development organised in collaboration with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and i4c and is aimed to help institutionalise the model of harnessing the creativity and technical expertise of youth in technical institutions. The Hackathon for Tourism sector, to be held at the Mar Baselios Institute of Technology and Science [MBITS], Kothmangalam, Cochin, will focus on the use of technology to solve problem statements pertaining to Tourism Sector posed by Ministry of Tourism such as Safety & Security of Tourist, Path breaking technological solutions that would catapult India as a leading tourist destination, Museum Commentary etc. The problem statements pertaining to tourism sector were given directly by the Ministry of Tourism based on the industry requirements which will be used to challenge the students for developing innovative digital solutions. The newly developed solutions/technical products will be evaluated by experts and prizes shall be distributed for winners, 1st runner up and 2nd runner up. After the event, the Ministry of Tourism will prepare a plan of action for integrating the products/software which has come out this hackathon into the Departmental functioning.

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ITB Berlin 2017 opens with 10,000 exhibitors

Around 10,000 exhibitors from 184 countries and regions in 26 fully-booked halls set the ball rolling at the ITB Berlin Convention, being held from March 8-12, 2017.  The Indian pavilion was inaugurated by Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India to Germany, along with Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra. Dr. Christian Göke, Chief Executive Officer of Messe Berlin GmbH, says, “As the world’s most important gathering place for the tourism industry ITB Berlin above all brings people together. A million face-to-face meetings at ITB Berlin will do one thing in particular, and that is build trust, trust on which we increasingly depend in our business dealings, in a digitalised and globalised world that has become more and more difficult to understand. Over 80 per cent of our exhibitors are from abroad. The organisers again expect more than 100,000 international trade visitors as well as many thousand members of the public on the weekend, who will be able to book their holidays directly at the show. The convention features key topics such as ‘Safety & Security’ and ’Artificial Intelligence’. This year, on March 9, at ITB Berlin, two Speed Dating events will give buyers and bloggers an opportunity to meet with exhibitors from around the world, enabling them to establish valuable contacts all in one day. This year at ITB Berlin, for the first time the important growth segment of medical tourism will receive its own platform. Medical service providers, hotels and destinations will be able to exhibit their products and services In the Medical Tourism Pavilion in Hall 3.2. On Thursday, 9 March from 3 to 4 p.m., …

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16.5% growth in FTAs in Jan’17 over Jan’16

According to the Ministry of Tourism, in January 2017, a total of 9.83 lakh foreign tourist arrivals were recorded in India as compared to FTAs of 8.44 lakh in January, 2016 and 7.91 lakh in January, 2015. The growth rate in FTAs in January, 2017 over January, 2016 is 16.5 per cent as compared to 6.8 per cent in January, 2016 over January, 2015. MoT also informed that a total of 1.52 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-Visa to India in January, 2017 as compared to 0.88 lakh during the month of January 2016 registering a growth of 72.0 per cent. The share of tourists availing e-Visa facility in January 2017 reached 15.5 per cent as against 10.4 per cent in January 2016. The percentage share of FTAs among the top 15 source countries was the highest from USA (15.01%) followed by Bangladesh (14.91%), UK (11.11%), Canada (4.63%), Russian Fed. (4.46%), Australia (3.65%), Malaysia (3.15%), Germany (2.92%), France (2.89%) and China (2.54%), Sri Lanka (2.45%), Japan(2.15%),Afghanistan (1.84%), Rep. of Korea (1.61%) and Nepal (1.60%). The percentage share of FTAs among the top 15 ports was the highest at Delhi Airport (28.30%) followed by Mumbai Airport (18.23%), Haridaspur Land checkpost (8.17%), Chennai Airport (7.32%), Goa Airport (6.51%), Bengaluru Airport (5.32%), Kolkata Airport (4.32%), Cochin Airport (3.73%), Ahmedabad Airport (3.37%), Hyderabad Airport (2.74%), Gede Rail Land checkpost (1.77%), Trivandrum (1.62%), Trichy Airport (1.38%), Ghojadanga land checkpost (1.08%) and Amritsar Airport (1.02%). The percentage share of top 15 source countries availing e-Visa facilities during January, 2017 was highest from UK (22.9%), followed by USA (13.6%), Russian Fed (8.3%), China (6.3%), France (5.6%), Australia (4.4%), Germany (4.1%), Canada (3.6%), Korea (Rep.of) (3.2%) and Ukraine …

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Vinod Zutshi inaugurates India pavilion at FITUR 2017

Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, attended FITUR 2017, organised by Ifema in Madrid, encouraging the Indian travel fraternity at the first large-scale travel show for this year. FITUR in its 37th year has seen almost 10% more exhibition space, 62,494 square meters, and a 6% increase in direct stand holders with a total of 755 displaying the offerings of 9,672 companies, configure a professional business platform which sees its international offerings reinforced by 9% in terms of main standholders. UNWTO has picked FITUR as the venue for kicking off the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

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PATA conducts 5th Update and Outlook Meeting with MOT & Air India

PATA India Chapter’s meeting with the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India and Air India discussed initiatives for the upcoming year and also highlighted the past year’s achievements. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary-Tourism, Govt. of India, was optimistic about tourism’s prospects for 2017 and shared, “We have been exceeding the global growth of tourism and have marked stuck to our target of 10 per cent growth on an average for this year. Not only have we seen a drastic increase in international tourist arrivals, the domestic sector is equally flourishing. From 30-40 per cent growth in 2015, we are expecting the domestic tourism growth to touch around 60-70 per cent.” Zutshi also mentioned that the 1363 helpline which was launched in mid November 2015, receives around 4000 queries per week, up from 1000 per week, and revealed that suggestions received from pre-budgetary sessions would help yield a favourable budget. Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, stated that expansions and consolidation for the national carrier will go hand-in-hand, with plans to add atleast 13 new destinations afoot. “We will be launching a minimum of six new routes in 2017 and about six more in 2018. The whole idea is to add 100 new aircrafts by 2020 and to convert the existing fleet into a relatively newer one. “2017 will also focus on turning profits for Alliance Air along with the rapid expansion of Air India’s fleet and number of destinations,” he added.

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5th International Tourism Mart begins in Manipur with 57 buyers

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in association with the North East states and West Bengal is organising the ‘International Tourism Mart’ in Imphal, Manipur from November 23–25, 2016. 57 Buyer delegates from ASEAN, Japan, Korea, Australia,  New Zealand, Spain, Russia, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Kenya, Oman, Canada, Brazil , South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, United Kingdom and USA are participating in the Mart.The event is being held in the City Convention Centre, Sanjenthong, Imphal, Manipur and will be inaugurated on November 24, by Okram Ibobi Singh, Chief Minister of Manipur in the presence of Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi and other dignitaries from North East states. Besides the foreign delegates, 80 domestic stakeholders in Tourism sector from other parts of the country including sellers from the North Eastern States and West Bengal are participating in the Mart. Representatives of State Tourism Departments of these State Tourism Departments are also present to showcase their tourism destinations and to interact with the delegates. The annual event is organised in the northeastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets. Buyer and Media delegates from around the world and from different regions of the country are participating in the Mart and will engage in one-to-one meetings with sellers from the North East Region. This will enable the tourism product suppliers from the region to reach out to international and domestic buyers, with the objective of promoting tourism to the region. An exhibition by State Tourism Departments from the North Eastern States and West Bengal is also being organised   to show case the tourism products of respective participating States. Post-mart familiarisations to …

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Karan Anand nominated for National Tourism Advisory Council

Karan Anand, Head (Relationship), Cox & Kings, has been nominated by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to the National Tourism Advisory Council for a period of three years. The Council will act as a ‘Think Tank’ and advise the government on policy matters relating to tourism in the country. The committee comprises luminaries from the central government and the private sector. Anand will continue to carry out his responsibilities at Cox & Kings.

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MOT to promote lesser-known destinations at IITF 2016

Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi inaugurated the Ministry of Tourism’s ‘Incredible India’ stand at the India International Trade Fair (IITF) 2016 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The Incredible India stand located at Hall No. 18 (Stand No.25) aims to nurture the tourism potential of less frequented destinations which are located closer to the popular destinations for attracting domestic visitors. Inaugurating the stand, Zutshi said, “The stand has been designed with an idea of promoting “lesser Known destinations”. Domestic tourism continues to be an important contributor to the tourism sector providing much needed resilience. There has been a continuous increase in domestic tourist visits, with the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of domestic tourist visits to all States/UTs from 1991 to 2015 being 13.63 per cent. In 2015, it grew by 11.63 per cent to reach 1431.97 million visits. And there is an encouraging sign for the Inbound Tourism too. Inbound travel to India has increased.  Foreign Tourist arrivals in India during the period January- September, 2016 were 6.2 million with a growth of 10.5% as compared to the Foreign Tourist Arrival of 5.6 million with a growth of 4.8% in January-September, 2015 over January- September, 2014. This positive development is expected to continue during remaining period of this year. The Ministry of Tourism is participating in the IITF after a long gap. The attraction of the stand are two ‘Selfie Points’ with the Taj Mahal and the Valley of Flowers as background.

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